Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Tis the season to knock your head (and jam your fingers)

My baby girl is well on the move now, crawling and standing and into everything! It is so lovely to watch her little face as she examines new objects, plays with doors and explores her world. Her expressions change from wonder to puzzlement and back again as she finds new things to learn about. It's such a precious time :)

It's also a time of lots of little accidents though. Bruised knees are ever present, fingers have been jammed, and her head takes knocks all day long. So far for us the biggest problem is the bruised knees. Baby girl loves to explore the paved area outside, but this leaves her with sore, inflamed and bruised knees, which she then avoids crawling on. For the most part I like to allow her body to heal unaided (it needs to learn!), but I have been using some over the counter creams on her knees. My favourite is traumeel cream- a homeopathic cream that helps the soreness and swelling. I have used arnica cream on her too, which is specific for bruising.

Little cuts and scratches are also becoming common (normally on the face to advertise to the world that I'm a bad mother who let her child fall on her face *sigh*). My very favourite remedy for these? Wait for it.... Breastmilk!! Yep that's right, I express a little milk on my hands and rub it into her cuts. It is amazing stuff! If that's too weird for you, or you are no longer breastfeeding, then calendula ointment works really well. For older kids, or under dressings, manuka honey is another great option.

All of these things are super simple remedies available from health food stores. They are brilliant for minor oppsies and totally natural.

4 comments:

  1. Hmmm Manuka honey is one I usually keep in the cupboard (and breast feeding days are over, lol). Lilika is constantly still always falling over and has lots of cuts and bruises. though for her she is usually content with a bandaid even if it does fall off shortly after or she pulls it off. She dislike the taste of manuka honey, though I am sure she would welcome it as a healing cream. Thanks so much as I would not have thought to use it as a cream.

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  2. It's really amazing. It's both antibacterial and healing. I'm sure she will think it is great fun to put honey on herself too!

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  3. Aurora's knees are very bruised too, never though to use arnica, thanks! She was also attacked on the face by mosquitoes when we went to the coast, which proceeded to become very inflamed! The guilt is horrible. Great blog.

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  4. Thanks Chloe! The arnica works a treat. I'm sure Aurora is enjoying exploring her world as much as my little one is. Busy time for us!

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